Ex-Trump economist says White House was warned of potential pandemic disaster in September

[dufus]

 

New York (CNN Business)Former Trump administration economist Todas Philipson said on Friday that his team alerted the White House about the dangers of a looming pandemic outbreak about three months before Covid-19 is believed to have made its way into the United States.

 

Philipson served three years as acting chairman of the administration's Council of Economic Advisers before stepping down in June to resume his teaching role at the University of Chicago. Philipson acknowledged testing positive for Covid-19 less than a month before his White House departure, according to The Wall Street Journal.

 

On Friday, he told CNN's Poppy Harlow that he co-authored and published a CEA report titled "Mitigating the Impact of Pandemic Influenza through Vaccine Innovation" that warned a pandemic disease could kill as many as half a million Americans and cause up to $3.79 trillion in damage to the US economy.

 

Previously, President Trump has insisted that no one could have foreseen or prevented the coronavirus outbreak, but Harlow pointed out on Friday that Philipson's 41-page report was presented to senior White House officials in September of last year.

 

"You guys told them at the highest levels of the White House last year this could happen," she said.

 

Philipson acknowledged the report was presented to President Trump or his top officials. "The White House is fully aware of what CEA puts out," he said.

 

Philipson noted it's not uncommon for White House officials to disagree over what course of action the President should take on certain issues. During the first nine months of Philipson's tenure as CEA chairman, he said the council was "extremely successful" in getting Trump to take its advice.

 

"This is like ... [a] one in 100 years lifetime event, and many administrations in the past kind of ignored that," Philipson said. "There were very few times I walked out of the Oval [Office] when we were not on the winning side. That was not very popular with all the sides obviously and that led to a lot of exclusion and even threats of firing me."

 

Philipson said the contentious process compelled him to leave the administration roughly two months before he was scheduled to return to the University of Chicago.

 

"I was very annoyed with the process and it was time to go anyways," he said.

source

[tennis]

When Phillipson warned of  ... [a] one in 100 years lifetime event, and many administrations in the past kind of ignored that,  he (Phillipson)  was not speaking specifically to the Covid-19 condition.  Phillipson also said that There were very few times I walked out of the Oval [Office] when we were not on the winning side.  He was otherwise so successful in making his agruments and recommendations to the White House that he not popular with some at the table.  So what?  Whether the sparring was collegial or contentious, assuredly it was exhaustive, at that national level where competition for available dollar resources is keen.  So, Phillipson returned to the University of Chicago, to handle his online course curriculum, and where his advice and grades are taken without an ounce of objection, I suppose.  Good for him....Not.

[dufus]

Event 201 exercise

 

The next severe pandemic will not only cause great illness and loss of life but could also trigger major cascading economic and societal consequences that could contribute greatly to global impact and suffering. The Event 201 pandemic exercise, conducted on October 18, 2019, vividly demonstrated a number of these important gaps in pandemic preparedness as well as some of the elements of the solutions between the public and private sectors that will be needed to fill them. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.

 

he was probably referencing this upcoming event !